The present invention relates to balancers and in particular to balancers for multicylinder reciprocating internal combustion engines or compressors of V-configuration.
It is shown to use weights on counter-rotating shafts to balance vibrations of internal combustion engines. In a standard Lanchester balancer, the weights on each shaft are equal in mass, the weight on one shaft being displaced 180.degree. relative to that on the other shaft when the centres of mass of the weights are disposed in the common axial plane of the shafts, so that as the weights rotate in opposite directions, the components of the forces produced by the weights in the plane containing the axes of rotation of the two shafts will cancel each other out while the components normal to said plane will reinforce one another producing a linear force.
If the weights of the Lanchester balancer are offset axially, the balancer will produce a force perpendicular to the common axial plane and also a couple about a perpendicular axis to the common plane and between the shaft axes. However, the linear force and rotating couple will be 90.degree. of phase.
With multicylinder reciprocating internal combustion engines and compressors of V-configuration, there is a requirement for a linear balancing force and coaxial rotating couple which are in phase. In other applications it may be necessary to provide a balancing force and couple which differ in phase by an amount between 0.degree. and 360.degree..